Supernatural 13.4 “The Big Empty” Review

Hi! Sorry I’ve been absent. I’m about eyebrows deep in book three, I’ve got a convention to go to next week, it was Halloween season, and if you like, I have about sixteen other excuses if you want to dig in my pocket and pick one. Here’s what I did last week, instead of write the blog: 

For what it’s worth, I have been fairly satisfied thus far. I wish Kim had more lines last week, but I look forward to the pilot for Wayward with great anticipation. I think it’s going to kick ass.

So this week, it was a Monster of the Week. One of my favorite things. We follow the show because of the story, but we all know what we love the most. “Saving People, Hunting Things”™. 

Dean’s pain over Cass, now that he’s let off some steam to Sam, is beginning to come to manageable levels. Even at the beginning of the episode, we can see he’s beginning to get a handle on it. Which is good, because he worried me. He’s been here before, and he doesn’t always deal well. Let’s not forget the time he took it out on Baby.

Sam’s connection to Jack certainly seems to be this season’s thread. I appreciate what Sam is doing, and I enjoyed watching Sam and Dean argue about how to raise their baby.

“And the kid can dig.”

I do feel Sam’s approach is more likely to work, but he is being a little soft on Jack. With Dean being way over-the-top hard on him, I think the best bet is something in the middle. Together, Sam and Dean make the perfect Winchester parent.

But first, they have a case to solve. Their visit to the therapist’s office, where they argued about Mary, killed me. I cried. A lot. Even after all this time, these two can really turn up the heat. Our poor, broken Winchesters. It’s a minor miracle that after all they’ve seen, they can still feel grief so deeply. That tells me more about the size of their hearts than any action they take. 

“I’m fine” is stretched tightly across your face, Dean.

Ps I cried rewatching it for this review.

Finding out the therapist was a shifter had me jumping up and down. For one, I love shifters. I think the stories that can be told with them are endless. The possibilities presented by a creature of that type can go anywhere. And then to find that this shifter, this “monster”, wanted only to do good was the icing on the shifter cake. Stories about moral grey area are my jam.

Most of the episode followed that question down the rabbit hole, and did an excellent job playing parallel to the dilemma of Jack. Alexander Calvert continues to knock it out of the park, and it was lovely seeing Jack come to terms with his grief over his mom. Does someone being a monster automatically qualify them for death? In the case of this shifter, the answer is no. No it does not. Just because someone is different, does not mean they need to be ostracized and killed. And in the case of Jack, I’m not convinced, either. I cried again, as he confronted the shifter dressed in his mother’s skin. Such a touching moment. And this poor kid, who is not actually the antichrist (we’ve already met him), just wants to be as good as his mother thought he could be. 

Do you believe he could be good? I do. Lucifer is not inherently bad. He was once an angel. He has made terrible choices, and has been the Dark Prince for so long, he doesn’t know any other way. But inherently bad? No. I don’t believe it. And in that way, I also don’t believe Jack is inherently bad. Sam has a point, there. I was grateful Dean could see the shifter offer her life for his, and that Jack could finally use his powers again to save Sam. It opened Dean’s eyes to the possibility that he is wrong. And that’s enough for me, for now. 

There you are, Dean.

Final note about the shifter before I change topics: I needed her to live. When her ex-boyfriend showed up, I saw in her the perfect picture of the abused woman. Coerced into hurting people and trapped in a toxic relationship, she ran away and began a new life. A life in which she used the powers she’d be given to help people heal, and to help herself heal. I could not have her abusive ex-boyfriend show up and kill her. I really could not. Overall, this was the strongest episode so far this season, and I loved everything about. it.

So, let’s talk about Castiel. Our wayward angel, awake in a great, black box. Interesting he ran into this Friendly Neighborhood Cosmic Entity. 

Before God and Amara, what was there, he asks? Nothing. Nothing but empty. So do we call him The Nothing, or The Empty? I like The Nothing, personally, but the episode was called The Big Empty, so I guess that’s what we’re going with. I found it interesting, this new entity. Are these the cosmic consequences Billie warned us about? I like to think that’ll still come up, at some point. Either way, in the end, after having his tulips tiptoed through, Castiel makes his way back to Earth. Is he Castiel? Probably. Is Castiel alone? Probably not. Can’t wait to see how that plays out. 

 

(All photos/screenshots property of The CW Network)